IndexIntroductionEthnicityGeneral Elections 2013AnalysisConclusionIntroductionKenya is a multi-ethnic society with currently forty-four tribes, the Makonde and Hindus have been recognized as ethnic communities. The most dominant tribes are Agikuyu, Kalenjin, Abagusii, Akamba, Abaluhya and Luos. In its history it has experienced numerous episodes of political violence. This is usually associated with ethnic clashes that occur during and after the election period. Historical context of ethnic conflict Ethnic conflict dates back to the period of struggle and partition of Africa. In Kenya, the British used the indirect rule: divide and conquer method to conquer territories. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Through this, various communities in Kenya resisted the British while others cooperated. This brought enmity between those who collaborated and those who resisted, a benchmark of ethnic conflict. As early as 1942, political parties based on each ethnic group existed. For example the Kavirondo Youth Association for the Akamba, the Luhya union for the Abaluhya and so on. Each political party had the main objective of protecting the rights of its people. After independence, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta's regime was to abolish ethnicity and uphold the nationalist spirit by making Kiswahili the national language. Although the regime was committed to nationalism through the national language and celebration of public holidays, this failed as it was through ethnicity that Mzee Jomo maintained power. Ethnicity Described as one's culture, or where one comes from: one's ancestral roots Paul Brass proposes that people mistakenly believe that certain social categories such as ethnicity are natural, inevitable, and immutable facts of the social world. They believe that particular social categories are fixed by human nature rather than social conventions and practices. He argues that the reality is that social categories and the meaning of those social categories have changed over time. Ethnic conflict Can be defined as a conflict between two or more ethnic groups, for example the Samburu and the Maasai, over livestock. Kimani Njogu et al argue that political violence arises from the ability to exploit ethnic affiliations in societies to the extent that it raises awareness about perceived inequalities in the distribution of power and resources. They argue that, once mobilized, politicized violence that has an ethnic dimension tends to escalate rapidly. Even more significantly, they argue that ethnicity itself is not a problem, but it is its exploitation that leads to civil war. Negative ethnicity Koigi Wamwere defines negative ethnicity as an ideology of defining ourselves with stereotypes that claims more humanity, cerebral superiority, beauty. and right for us in his book. Legal Framework The Constitutional Framework The Constitution of Kenya 2010, tends to eliminate ethnicity in all aspects as per the following provisions; We the people of Kenya are proud of our ethnic, cultural and religious diversity and are determined to sustain it and benefit future generations. The State will promote and protect the linguistic diversity of the people of Kenya. The idea behind the formation of political parties is that they should promote and support national unity and should not be formed on religious, racial, gender and ethnic grounds or seek to engage in advocacy of hatred on such grounds. Every person has the right to own property anywhere in Kenya. There is no limitation on where you can or cannot hold land or property, thereforeany person residing within the country is able to acquire and hold property at any place at any time. Freedom of movement and residence The constitution provides that every citizen is free to move and have a residence anywhere in the territory of Kenya. Multi-party state in Kenya Ethnicity has always been wrongly defined or crucified as the root cause of ethnic conflicts. This has been argued by scholars that “although the prevalence of different ethnic groups in a state cannot in itself lead to violent conflict”. During the December 1992 elections, the people of Kenya were campaigning for Kenya to become a multi-party state, but the then KANU regime of former President Daniel Arap Moi opposed the movement and went to the extent of influencing ethnic violence in the Kenyan region. Rift Valley. According to Osamba, the reasons for the violence were threefold: to demonstrate that the government has always claimed that political pluralism is synonymous with ethnic chaos, to terrorize ethnic groups supposedly supporting the opposition, and to intimidate non-indigenous populations of the Rift Valley. Many people were killed while others became internally displaced. Post-election violence in 2007-2008 This was the darkest period in Kenya's history. There has been bloodshed across the country leading to internal displacement. This came after former President Mwai Kibaki was announced as the winner. The government then established the Waki ​​Commission to investigate the clashes following Kenya's disputed presidential election. The Commission, in examining the ways in which political violence manifested itself in Kenya, decided that the victims and perpetrators of violence should be determined on the basis of ethnicity. The Waki ​​Commission saw the escalation of ethnic violence and the strengthening of ethnic divisions in society. 2013 General Election In 2013, Mutahi Ngunyi made the following predictions in the general election about Uhuru Kenyatta's victory as president and it was inevitable due to the Jubilee Coalition's "bankable" ethnic vote of 6.2 million (i.e. 43.2 % of total votes). This number is basically the total of GEMA (Gikuyu, Embu and Meru) and Kalenjin registered voters. Following the same ethnic logic, he calculated that the CORD coalition started with about 19.2% of the vote, or 2.74 million votes. Tight competition then required targeting smaller communities and those in more cosmopolitan mixed areas. This concept was used to determine votes based on ethnicity which determined presidential votes in the 2013 general elections in Kenya, indicates that Kenyan voters base their support on ethnic lines. This does not only equate to negative ethnicity, but also to ethnic conflict between different ethnic groups. Comparison with Rwanda Just as ethnic conflict in Kenya is no stranger to Rwanda. Since the colonial period there have always been tensions and disagreements between the Tutsi minority and the Hutu majority. Belgian settlers identified the Tutsis as more superior to the Hutus, so they found jobs and had educational opportunities compared to the Hutus. This contributed to the killing of nearly twenty thousand Tutsis in 1959. Even after independence, resentment between the two communities was still present. Tutsi refugees in Uganda formed the Rwandan Patriotic Front with the aim of overthrowing President Habyarimana so as to regain the right to return to their homeland. Between April and June 1994, after the death of Habyarimana, which occurred when his plane was shot down over Kigali airport, the genocide was unleashed which led to the death, according to estimates, of eight hundred thousand people over of one hundred days.AnalysisKenya in its past seems to have a profound problem.